Now this is the morning I’ve been waiting for… So excited to return to Sorrento after four years. When we were last here, it was the spring of 2022. Covid was still very much alive and, in fact, we were on the first cruise ship to cross the Atlantic and things were just starting to open back up. We loved our time in Sorrento, even though most things — little shops and cafés — were not yet open again, but the little town was just an absolute delight and we remember thinking we have to come back here. Today’s the day.
When you have an excursion on a cruise ship, you always have a meeting place to get to by a certain time in the morning. We have to be at a dining room at 8 AM to wait for our bus to be called. We made our way down there with no problems in just a few minutes later our number was called. We headed out to the bus got on board and started on our way with the most spectacular guide a young man named Aldo.
We spent the morning in Sorrento exactly the way we had been envisioning. We retraced some of our walking steps and found the cute little British pub where we had a cappuccino. We did not have a cappuccino today but we stopped for this selfie.
Then, we meandered the lovely little alleys ways of shops and restaurants until we found our favorite Limoncello shop. We told the owner about our visit 4 years ago and he was thrilled for the repeat visit - like any small business owner would be. We bought a few bottles.
Then, we marched along remembering the route from the recesses of our minds until we found the little Italian bottle shop we also visited last time. A sweet man came to greet us- but he was significantly younger than the kind man we worked with last time. Jason said, “Last time we were here…there was another gentleman…?” The nice man said, “Ah, yes, that’s my father. He’s still with us but he works less!” Wonderful!
We had a delightful conversation and then he helped us sort out a case of wine to ship home. What a stinkin’ delight. Another dream coming true.
From there, we headed back to the main intersection in town and grabbed a great table in the cafe to people watch, drink wine, and greet all the dogs walking by. Our absolutely favorite thing about European culture is the cafe scene. Outdoors. People linger. No rush. Sit for hours and hours, if you want. So relaxing and easy.
As we sat there, we saw tons of cruise people and eventually, Rich and Ginny. When Ginny came up, she said, “Can i have a sip of your water? I’m so thirsty!” As I was saying yes, of course, she said, “I mean, take precaution, you know I have the clap.” And we all died laughing but then she quickly had to backpedal because the people at the table behind us heard that so she said, “Just kidding! I don’t have the clap for real!!””
We enjoyed a terrific margarita pizza in the place where it was invented (Napoli!) and a shareable Caesar salad.
Such a simple dream - but a dream nonetheless. I still hope we can return and spend a few nights there locally. Visit every shop and eat a bite or have a drink at every restaurant. The whole town is an absolute joy.
By then, it was time to find the bus again and head to Pompeii. Last time we were here, we went to a winery and olive orchard just on the side of Mount Vesuvius - but we did not go to Pompeii. We had a terrific walking tour around something like only 2% of the place. Apparently, most of it is still undiscovered underground. Aldo said they know this and are ok with it- leaving some discovery for future generations. Also, expecting at some point that another explosion will occur and further bury things.Amazing to hear things talked about in this way - delayed gratification and being ok with leaving some things untouched. So not the way we’d do it. And, so lovely.
Pompeii is definitely one of those places that you learn about in school and somehow in your brain you know it’s real but you can’t really understand it in a real way because there is just nothing else like it in our lifetimes that we see with our own eyes. And yet, there I was, standing in it. Seeing the “leftovers” was shocking but also somehow unreal. Like it could have all been a movie set. Hard to imagine this is the reality of the place I grew up learning about. And this is why travel matters so much!
We enjoyed our tour - surprised once again at how close we could get. There weren’t ropes and security guards and cameras. Our guide simply walked us around and through things, telling stories as we went. It was haunting and chilling and amazing all at once.
With that, it was time to head back to the ship. We’d worn our selves out with the joy of retracing our steps and doing the things we’d been dreaming about…and then some. One thing I continue to love about cruising is the simplicity of having all your things stay in one place that you can come home to every afternoon. It felt good to head home after a great day on shore.
No comments:
Post a Comment